If I stayed
by VideoGamesAreMyLife
Summary: People don't usually climb mount ebbot for happy reasons. So when you find yourself in Toriel's home you think maybe you could have a happier life in the ruins. Basically this starts out if Frisk didn't immediately leave and lived with Toriel for a while.
1. Chapter 1

You yawn sleepily as you rouse yourself from bed. You can hear Toriel already working in the kitchen fixing up breakfast for the both of you while humming cheerfully to herself. She seemed so much happier than when you first met her. It must have been really lonely living by herself in the Ruins.

Slowly you slide off your mattress and amble over to the dresser full of striped sweaters in kid's sizes. Perfect for you, almost suspiciously convenient, which had prompted you to ask Toriel why she had these clothes. She said her son used to have a similar taste in clothes as you, then changed the subject to a random fact about snails without saying where her son was now.

Today you made your way to the living room where Toriel had set out a stack of pancakes for you and pan fried snails for her. You secretly hoped she had cooked the pancakes first, because sometimes the snails would leave a weird after taste on whatever was next on the pan.

"Good morning, my child." Toriel greeted warmly as you sat down at the table. "did you sleep well?" You nodded as you doused your pancakes in syrup. "I'm glad to hear that."

You picked up a fork and bit into you pancakes as she continued talking. "I hope your are looking forward to today's lesson. We will be looking at some literary classics." You nodded again as you drenched your pancakes in more syrup to mask the snail flavor. "but before that is there anything you wanted to do today." You thought for a second and pointed out the window towards her favorite bug hunting spot, never being much for words.

"Um, maybe we should hold off on that today." Toriel said hesitantly. Last time you went bug hunting you had accidently caught a Whimsum in your net. It took almost an hour for Toriel to get them to stop crying. You sighed, there was not much else to do in the ruins aside from puzzles and bug hunting. "Oh, dear." Toriel said suddenly, "I almost forgot. We are running low on groceries. I'll have to go out and get some. I think it would be best if you stayed here in the mean time."

Toriel was always over protective, never wanting you to leave the house without supervision even though you had walked all the way here on your own before. She was also reluctant for you to meet any new monsters and left you behind when she ran errands, and today you found out why.

When left alone in the house there was not much to do. The toys in your room were not any fun to play with alone. So instead you shuffled through her books for something you had not read already. Passing over some history books you found the book you would be reading today for classic lit. It would not hurt to get a head start, but it was always more fun when you read with Toriel; She would give funny voices to all the characters.

You looked back at the history books and paused for a moment. Over the past few weeks Toriel had given lessons in reading, math, art, magic, and cooking, but never touched on history despite having plenty of books to cover the subject.

Curious you opened up the book to be greeted by an illustration of a few lone monsters standing on ground coated thick with dust being forced back by humans on horseback with various weapons.

"The humans had begun to fear monsters for their greater ability to use magic. Relations became strained as councilmen from there government were less and less willing to meet with the king. Finally a brief meeting settled an uneasy agreement where the two parties would stay to their respective boarders, and the monsters experienced at what the time seemed to be peace. For two months the monsters and humans had no conflict, as well as no contact. Then on October 3rd, war broke out.

The human forces came down hard on the outer villages of the monster territories, destroying farmlands, burning stored goods, and pouring filth into the water supply. They had crippled the monsters' resources and terrorized innocent civilians. Based on the strategy and how well equipped the humans where it is believed that they had been planning this attack for quite some time. The king quickly sent forces against them, but with no time to create a defense plan the monsters did horribly. Witnesses described the aftermath of the first battle as an ashen shower. The dust left from civilians and soldiers alike coated the ground until it looked like the village was based at the edge of a volcano. Eventually the king managed to gather up enough magic to force the humans back, but while they had kept the humans at bay that day, it was but a small start to a long and devastating war."

You grimaced at the passage and flipped ahead for a hopefully for a less bloody resolution only to find first person accounts of the day the barrier went up, lamenting the loss of loved ones and the fact that they would never see the sun again. The loathing of the humans for having taken away literally everything they had was unsurprising.

You thought over some of the monster's reactions when you first arrived here and suddenly found the barrage of attacks you experienced explained. You tossed aside the book with a sour feeling in your stomach. You did not feel guilty for something that happened long before you were ever born, but at the same time you were not feeling too happy about being human. The door opened and then shut with Toriel holding a bag of groceries.

"Hello, my child. I have returned with enough ingredients for some butterscotch pie tonight." You looked at her silently, no gestures given or words spoken in response to her arrival. You simply sat there, looking at her while wondering how she could be so immediately friendly to you when all the other monsters had to be convinced that you were not dangerous.

After putting away the groceries she walked over to you and knelt down. "My child is something wrong?" she said noting your serious expression. You pointed to the history book you had laid haphazardly on the floor. "Oh, my." she said bringing her hand to cover her mouth. She picked up the book and put it on top of the shelf, presumably to keep it out of your reach. "You need not worry about that. That is a time that has long since passed." Still seeing your unhappy expression she clapped her hands together. "Maybe we should skip todays lesson and go straight to making pies, then we can go bug hunting if you would like." She took your hand and lead you to the kitchen. You looked over your shoulder to the history book on the shelf as more questions formed in your mind. Questions that Toriel was unlikely to answer.

Was the monster population really that small? The entirety of them were forced underground, but you didn't see that many around. Where were the king and queen? You had not seen a big enough gathering for there to be any system of government. Or any villages in the ruins. Why was the place in ruins anyway? While initially depressed by the contents of Toriel's history book you soon found yourself curious for more as you realized how little you knew about this place you were now calling home.

The next time Toriel went out you pulled a chair from the dining table and pushed it against the bookshelf so you could reach the top. You plopped down in said chair and began flipping through it, looking for the time right after the barrier went up. You found another first person account.

"Trapped behind the barrier and fearful of further human attacks, we retreated far, far into the earth we walked until we reached the cavern's end. This was our new home, which we named... "Home". As great as our king is, he is pretty lousy at names." You giggled slightly at that and flipped forward some more. There was description of the construction of new houses and the monsters becoming accustomed to their lives' underground. It mentioned the birth of the prince and the joy he brought to the underground. Then the earthquake struck.

"The walls of Home shook violently as the buildings collapsed around the population. Witnesses saw the rocks crack open, expanding the cavern further. While the quake only lasted two minutes the affects were traumatic. Falling debris crushed some monsters and when it was all over many structures where in shambles. Fearing the structural instability caused by the quake monsters fled deeper still into the cavern to avoid being crushed by their own houses and, once again, started to rebuild. The monsters found that the further into the underground they traveled the colder the climate became as they passed through layers of permafrost. The name of this snowy cold settlement was called, "Snowdin".

Nearby Snowdin a underground river was found, kept from freezing by a magma cavern not to far from that. This came to much joy to the monsters as the diversity in the climate allowed them to live more comfortably in the environment best fit for them. The settlement by the river, with water constantly pouring down from above was called "Waterfall" and The hot land of the magma caverns "HotLand" The king's naming skills were as sharp as ever." You chuckled at that. "The last to leave from the old settlement of Home was the royal family. As they prepared to leave for their new, new home's capital, "New Home" the prince discovered an unexpected resident, wounded in the ruins." The front door opened. Toriel probably wouldn't like to see you reading from the book again after all the discomfort it caused last time and you threw it back atop the shelf and pushed the chair back to the table.

"My child what are you doing?" Toriel asked as she entered the room, having heard you drag the chair across the floor. You glanced around quickly, trying to think as you pulled the chair out again and hopped onto it. You jumped from the dining chair to the table, back to the dining chair and then onto Toriel's armchair like you were pretending the ground was made of hot lava. "Oh, my child. I told you it is bad for the furniture when you play like that she said picking you up of the chair and setting you on the floor. "Now go wash up dear, I shall have dinner ready when you are done."

That night you could not sleep very well. You could only think of how your world just expanded. You had become used to living in the ruins, that were mostly void of all but the occasional froggit or whimsum, and it had begun to feel quite small, but now you have come to learn that there is a world beyond that filled with a lot more people and buildings and places. You wanted to see it for yourself, not just go by what brief descriptions the book had to offer.

But how did you get out of the ruins? You did not see any extensions of the cavern since you arrived. Toriel would probably know. You would ask her in the morning.

The next morning Toriel went rigid as you brought up the question. She almost dropped your breakfast plate. After so long she did not expect you to ask that question. "My child, it is much safer if you stay here. Now we could go bug hunting today, I have a feeling that there will be a lot of snails out there today." She said quickly changing the subject. You could handle a lot more than she realized. You commented on her protectiveness. "It's only because I love you and don't want to lose you." You don't know what made her so certain that you could be torn away at any second, but you had the feeling it had something to do with her son. Was he one of the casualties of the war? She said monsters live really long so She might have been alive then. You thought about asking, but thought maybe that would lead to too many painful memories. Instead you decided to settle with simply going on your bug hunting as usual.

Your net bounced on your shoulder slightly as you hopped down the empty hallways with Toriel walking behind you, willingly forgetting the tension from earlier for the time being. You dove for the nearest pile of leaves and rolled around in the crinkling mess as all sorts of little insects ran out to avoid the disruption. There were the usual bugs like roly polies and crickets and spiders, (you were told to never touch the spiders for some reason, probably the one's holding the bake sale would get mad at you) Occasionally you would come across a butterfly, but those tended to hang around close by whimsum, which is how you accidentally netted one. Today you saw an underground rarity, a lady bug, crawling from the pile. The bright black and red shell shined stark against the cool purple-greay stone of the ruin's ground. It was easy to keep an eye on as you went bounding after it full speed, leading you closer to one of the puzzles.

"Be careful, my child." Toriel called after you. You bounded away carelessly as the ladybug took flight, not noticing the thin cracked ground of the near by puzzle. You swung your net in the air while jumping up and subsequently landed on the crumbling earth roughly. It quickly gave way under your weight and you went tumbling into the cavern below hearing Toriel shout after you in worry.

You landed with a thump on a pile of leaves in a familiar small room with a small archway.

"Oh, hello there." a quiet, timid sounding voice murmured. You looked over to see Napstablook lying in the pile next to you. "It's been a while." You waved eagerly at Napstablook, making extra sure he knew you were happy to see him, otherwise he might assume that he was ruining everyone else's time.

"Things in Waterfall have been kind of busy lately, I thought I'd come down here to stay out of everyone's way for a while. I hope I'm not bothering you." You shook your head with a smile. Then a thought occurred to you. Napstablook lives outside of the ruins, so he would know how to go back and forth. You ask him about it. "Oh, well I heard that there is a passage underneath the king's old house. I don't know where it is though. " You look at him confused. "being incorporeal, I just faze through the walls." he explained sadly, "Sorry for being so useless. I wish I could help more." and with that Napstablook floated away to prevent his uselessness from plaguing you further.

"My child are you alright?" Toriel's voice called down to you from above. You nodded, although you were not sure if she could see that well from the distance. You walked through the archway that lead to the upper floor and dropped into the room from a slot in the wall. "I told you to be careful," she chided as gently as she could while getting her upset across.

She took your hand and lead you back while you thought to yourself. The kings old house? Most of the houses down here were in ruin, there was no way to tell which one belonged to whom or if they were even a house or some other building... but maybe... the text book did say that the royal family was the last to leave the ruins. Did they stay longer because they still had a place to stay and their house was mostly intact? But the only house down here was Toriel's. Was she living in the abandoned house of the royal family? You thought about the stairs in the living room, Toriel once caught you poking around down there and said that you should be playing up stairs. You did not check it out further afterwards because from what you saw it was nothing but a dark empty basement. The darkness did not let you see that far in, but maybe there was something hidden in the obscured depths of the house. The thought that a whole new world had been under your feet this entire time made your adventurous spirit giddy.

That night you lit a candle and slipped out of your room and down the hall. After making it down the stairs you found yourself in familiar darkness, your candle only allowing for a few feet of vision. You wished you could have found a flash light but this is the best you could do. You traveled down the hall having to occasionally feel around to make sure there was not anything in your path to trip you, eventually coming to a dead end. You waved the candle around to see your surroundings and caught sight of the pattern in front of you. You ran your hands over it, feeling the material was different than the stone walls. Was this a door? You got a better view of it when the room was bathed in an orange glow and found that it was indeed a large door. 

"What are you doing, my child?" You turned around to see Toriel, surrounded by her illuminating fire magic. She sounded afraid. You looked at the door and back to her with a quizzical expression on your face. She briskly walked past you putting herself between you and the door. "You must not go out there; it is too dangerous." You frowned. She seemed to think everything was too dangerous for you lately and you handled yourself fine. How was this any different? You were getting tired of being babied and you made this clear with a petulant glare. "Please just go back to your room." You do not comply, instead you ask if that is the exit to the ruins, "Yes it is, but you cannot leave here. Go back to your room." you stayed. "Then you give me no choice." Toriel summoned up more fire magic, swirling around her like a halo. You could not decide if the image looked more hellish or angelic. "If you will not stay away from this path willingly then I will have to destroy it to prevent anyone from leaving the ruins again." 

Your expression changed from disgruntled to saddened, almost pleading. You just wanted more world to explore, it was not that you did not like living with Toriel, but you just wanted a little more to fill your days than bug hunting and her lessons, and she responded by trying to destroy any chance from that happening. She hesitated, seeing your shift in emotion. "Please, just go back to sleep." You still stayed. You still looked sad. 

The fire lessened as she knelt down in front of you, placing her hand on your head in an attempt to be comforting. "Please understand young one, I do this not out of malice or to control you. I just wish to protect you." A hint of your petulant glare from before edged back onto your face briefly and it did not go unnoticed. "I know you think I am being over protective, but it is only because I care for you. Maybe I have been too watchful when you explored the ruins, but it is not like the ruins out there. There are far more monsters, ones that think hurting you maybe there only way out." She paused, clearly pained by something, "...Asgore... Asgore would kill you." she looked nearly on the edge of tears, her voice shaking. "it has happened before, you are not the first human to have fallen down here. So please, my child, stay here, stay safe. I can't handle losing another one." Her entire body was trembling now. You walked over to her and clung to her shoulder in a sort of half hug. You found yourself completely enveloped in her warmth when her large arms returned the gesture.

"I am sorry, my child." She spoke after holding you in silence for a while. "I did not mean to make you feel so constricted." After another moment of holding that position she took your hand and the two of you walked back up stairs. "Come it is late. We may discuss matters further in the morning , after a good night's rest." She sighed, clearly exhausted by the emotional ordeal. As Toriel's fire light receded away from the door you only briefly glanced over your shoulder at the passage in the growing darkness, still intact despite Toriel's threats to destroy it.


	2. Chapter 2

You shuffled your feet through the crinkling leaves as you meandered through the ruins. After a slightly strained discussion with Toriel at breakfast she allowed you to roam the ruins on your own, so long as you always kept your phone with you, fully charged and called her if absolutely anything went wrong. It was an improvement, having a little more free reign in your life, but you were still a little dissapointed that you did not get to see Snowdin, or Waterfall, or any of the other cool places that lay beyond the door. Maybe if you ran into Napstablook he could tell you what it was like there. With that thought you went bounding down the hall to the nearest monster, a whimsum, who was frightened by your sudden approach and flew away immediately. You guessed not everyone was used to you being around yet. Next you tried again with a froggit and asked if had seen a mopey ghost as shy as a whimsum. The froggit knew who you were talking about, but most other monsters would steer clear of him because he liked to be left alone. Last time the froggit tried to speak to him he just pretended he was sleeping by snoring loudly. That sounded familiar. The froggit had no idea where he was now.

You kicked up the leaves in disappointment when a thought occurred to you. The first time you went through the ruins you ran into Napstablook he was blocking your path by lying on a pile of leaves, then you found him in the puzzle where you had to fall into the caverns below to find the one with the single switch where he was also lying in the leaves and again when you were bug hunting yesterday. Leaves. Knowing his preferences on where he would like to hang out could narrow down the search and make it easier to find him... on second thought maybe not. A lot of the rooms in the ruins had piles of leaves in them and while traversing the hallways to check each one of them as they were scattered across the ruins, you would probably end up searching every inch of the ruins anyway. Although, it still would not hurt to check the room with the most leaves first. And that would be below the puzzle with the cracked ground where you were supposed to walk the path that was not over the leaves.

Swiftly you ran, so fast that you didn't realize how close you were getting and fell through the puzzle floor and onto the pile of leaves below. It was really convenient that you always had these piles to cushion your fall with every weak floor puzzle. Or was it by design? The only tree you had seen that these leaves could have come from was right outside of Toriel's house. Did she gather piles around to prevent anyone from getting seriously hurt? Yeah, that seems like something she would do. You to be looked around, Napstablook was nowhere to be found. Well he liked to be alone, so next guess would be anywhere secluded enough. Maybe you should go back to the single switch puzzle, those were pretty secluded. Although you might be assuming a lot thinking that he is even here for sure. He doesn't live in the ruins, (if you could say he lived anywhere at all, being a ghost and whatnot) so there was no guarantee that he was going to be down here everyday.

The tone of your phone ringing pulled you out of your thoughts. It had to be Toriel. You were a bit surprised she managed to go this long without calling you, even more so when you saw the time on the phone. You were late for dinner. Maybe she was trying too hard not to smother you after yesterday. You answered the call and she asked where you were and when you were coming back and you said you were going to hurry back right away, although your quick jog back home slowed down to a meandering stroll when you remembered tonite's dinner was snail pie. It wasn't your favorite but you would never complain with how happy Toriel looked when you ate her cooking.

"Welcome home, my child." Toriel greeted warmly,"dinner is already on the table. Did you enjoy your outing." You told her that you were looking for a ghost but could not find him. "Ah, yes. I believe I have seen him around occasionally. Such a lonely fellow. I try to be friendly towards him, but he is always so timid he usually leaves before a conversation can last very long." she sighed, "He once said something about his cousin leaving to get a body and he has been showing up more frequently ever since, so perhaps you will be successful tomorrow." You sigh slightly as Toriel hands you a slice of snail pie. You still did not really know where to look for him, but you did not want to ask Toriel about him any more, afraid that she may be upset if she found out why you wanted to talk to him so bad. Well, she probably would not be upset about you simply being curious about the Underground, but bringing it up so soon might be a bad idea.

The night progressed normally; after dinner Toriel cleaned up then the two of you sat together on her armchair as she read stories from one of her few children's books before sending you of to bed. You were restless. While the atmosphere of the household felt as though it had returned to a calm nature once again, the events of the past two days still buzzed in your mind. Last night was easier from the exhaustion that came from staying up late and the emotional strain, but not tonight. Sleep did not come easily to you and you did not stay asleep long either. This is why you woke up unusually early the next morning. You were even up before Toriel when you rose from your bed, which you realized when you walked through the living room to the kitchen and found she was not in either.

When you heard thumping coming from behind you, you thought it might be her getting out of bed and walked over to give her a good morning, but as you drew closer you realized that the sound was not coming from the hallway but down the staircase. You glanced down the empty hallway and back down the stairs. Curiosity compelling you to investigate. Maybe you could take a quick peek and come back without Toriel noticing, unless the thumping noise was Toriel working down there, then you would run right int her. You heard the thumping again. You quickly slid down the banister, curiosity getting the better of you, and landed in the hallway. Although the light filtering from the room above had it more visibility than before, it was still rather dim. You took this to mean Toriel was not down here as she could have illuminated the entire place with her magic.

The entire hall was empty. As you walked along you could not even find a mouse that would be causing any noise. You finally reached the end. You looked up at the door in wonder. Was something on the other side making that noise? Was something trying to get in? You pressed your ear against the door and strained to listen for a moment and where surprised when a loud thump struck the door, leaving your ear ringing a little. You jerked your head back and stuck your finger in your ear as if you could somehow get the ringing to stop that way. The ringing in your ears had not yet faded when you heard her voice behind you.

"My child, we talked about this." Toriel sighed, she sounded more melancholy than angry. You waved your hands in front of you and shook your head wildly while trying to convey that it was not what she thought it was. You reached behind you and knocked then cupped your hand behind your ear, into much of a fuss to form words to explain yourself.

"Who's there?" a deep voice sounded from the other side of the door. You jumped slightly and instinctively looked over your shoulder, not that it helped you understand what was going on any better as you could not see through solid doors.

"Oh, my child!" Toriel said in realization.

"Oh, my child who?" The voice responded.

"Oh, uh- that wasn't a joke." Toriel, "my child, was knocking on the door."

"Huh, I didn't know you had a kid. Hey if they ever give you a hard time you can have me come over to help with the PUN-ishment."

"Ha...ha." Toriel laughed weakly. She leaned down and scooped you up, holding you close as the voice on the other side rattled off more jokes.

"Kid you'd be so grounded that coffee wouldn't envy you. I'll give you a PUN-alty you'll never forget." The voice paused expectantly only to have silence grace them. "Are you feeling alright?"

"...Do you remember that promise I asked of you?" Toriel hugged you more closely as she spoke those words.

"Yes... is something wrong? Do you need help?" The voice on the other side seemed worried. Toriel shook her head with a soft smile on her lips, although whoever was on the other side would not be able to see the gesture.

"Nothing is the matter, I was just making sure." Toriel almost whispered. "It is a bit early though."

"Should I come back later?

"That would be nice."

After that you went to have breakfast. A bit of an awkward silence passed before you finally asked about the voice from the door. He seemed friendly enough, yet Toriel looked a little saddened.

"Ah, yes he is a friend. One of the few I have had before you showed up." She sighed. "I believe he is a sentry, but I'm afraid I do not know his name though, or what he looks like. I have confined myself to the ruins for so long that I am no longer familiar with all of those who work for the king. I don't even know if the captain of the royal guard has changed since I left." you ask why she insists on staying here. "I am guardian of the ruins, I must prepare those who have fallen down for their time in the underground... I just want to keep everyone safe." She sacrificed a lot just to be able to help some strangers, even if she did not always succeed. You asked her why she seemed so sad if she was talking to a friend. "I was just reminded of a darker time is all. He promised to help prevent that from happening again, but still I worry. It is hard not to with all that is has happened down here." You grimaced, the books made you well aware that being in the underground was no picnic, even if Toriel managed to give you a fairly comfortable life, it was now clear that she had been sheltering you from this place's dark history and the aftermath it had wrought.

You cleared the breakfast table and helped Toriel with the dishes and continued as per your usual morning routine. Today you went over algebra, then having been inspired by the encounter that morning Toriel went digging around until she found an old joke book, explaining how she met her friend and for the longest time the only thing that brightened her day in the ruins was cracking jokes back and forth through the walls. There were a lot of cards stuck in the book from Toriel adding her own additions before finally getting a new notebook to write them down in. You noticed a lot of them were bone and skeleton based.

"Oh, here's one I had not used yet." Toriel said as she adjusted her glasses to read better, "It goes: Knock, knock. Whose there? Pizza. Pizza who? Pizza really great guy." She read the entire joke out loud and chuckled loudly."What musical instrument is found in the bathroom?" You shrug. "A Tuba toothpaste." Toriel laughed again. "Try this one my child: knock, knock," She said, this time waiting for you to ask whose there, to which she responded, "Could you," and the joke continued, "Could you let me in I'm freezing out here." You giggled a little, more so because of Toriel's cheerfulness rather than the joke itself. The mood in the room seemed the best it had been all week. You were finally able to relax and enjoy your regular routine. That night sleep came easier to you.

...

You held Toriel's had as you walked through the market. For the first time she was allowing you to come with and meet all the monsters that ran the place (which were mostly vegetoids). You got a few weird looks and one glare, but as long as you were with Toriel nobody bothered you. Toriel said she was going to try a special new recipe tonight and needed more ingredients than usual.

"Onions, carrots, turmeric, fennel, cumin and eggplant." Toriel listed off the things in her bag. "all we need now are the tomatoes. Then we can head back." They approached the nearest Vegetoid vendor and looked at there selection of tomatoes. "What do you think is best for curried eggs, roman or heirloom tomatoes?" Vegetoids tend to talk even less than you did so it did not offer up it's opinion. You knew almost nothing about cooking aside from that lesson on butterscotch pies Toriel gave you so you just pointed to the biggest. "you want heirloom? Okay, I don't think we'll need as many since these are so large. We'll take two." Toriel put down some gold on the table and put the tomatoes in her bag before heading home.

Upon arriving home Toriel was off to the kitchen eagerly preparing the new meal only to realize she had made a mistake. When she opened the carton taken from the fridge she realized she did not have enough for curried eggs. She walked into the living room where you were on the floor drawing with some crayons.

"My child, I must return to the market. I forgot a single ingredient." Toriel said as she got her bag. You got up to go with her, but she waved you off, "It should be but a short trip, I do not think we would be in the market long enough for you to find something that interests you. I will be right back." She assured you before heading out the door. You went back to your drawing for a few minutes. Then your stomach grumbled. You were getting pretty hungry, and with dinner being delayed by Toriel's last minute shopping trip you thought it be best to get a small snack to tide you over until dinner was ready. And by small snack you meant a heaping slice of the leftover cinnamon butterscotch pie still in the fridge.

For a moment you just stood in front of the open fridge. The giant pie was almost intimidating in size even with a third of it missing. You pondered whether or not you should take a slice, as it would likely spoil your appetite for Toriel's cooking later tonight. Such thoughts were abandoned when your cell phone rang.

"Hello my child. I am afraid I will be taking a little longer than expected. There is an end of the market sale and I thought I would pick up a few things, but I will try to be as quick as possible." with the end of that call you tossed your phone on the counter recklessly and eagerly reached for the sweet delight in front of you.

You got out the pie and the plate and set them on the dining room table. Toriel's pies were usually so big that you would not have enough room for both it and the plates and knives, or a nice glass of milk for that matter. You cut yourself a slice and pour a glass of milk before settling back on the floor with your drawing, taking a few bites from it as you colored in a sunset you had not seen in a while. After a few minutes you heard thumping. You looked over to the staircase where it seemed to be coming from. It sounded like Toriel's friend was back. You hopped down the stairs and to the door as you heard the thumping again. You knocked on the door in return.

"Who is it?" The same deep voice from before answered. You thought for a moment and decided to tell him the pizza knock knock joke from before. "Ha, good one. Your the lady's kid, right? Is she around?" He asked noting that your voice was not the one he was expecting. You tell him that she was out running errands, "Ah, well, at least you got her sense of humor. Tell me have you heard this one about the guy who invented the knock, knock joke? He one a no-bell prize." You giggled a little and returned with the freezing knock, knock joke. "I'd love to kid, but it's probably even colder out here. So much ice piles up in front of my house that we're Snowdin almost every day." He chuckled. Oh, right.

You forgot Snowdin was the first settlement out of the ruins, and he was a sentry so that would mean he would be outside all day. You asked him if he was okay out their with it being so cold. "Yeah, the cold never bothered me much." It still did not feel right leaving him out in the cold. Maybe you could invite him in so he could warm up, he could even have a slice of pie since there was plenty to share. He was a friend of Toriels and she trusted him so he probably was not with the ones that would hurt you. You asked him if he wanted anything, like tea or pie, and made it clear that you had plenty of pie. "no, that's alright kid-," he started a little too late as you were already pushing the door open with all your might. "Kid?"" he sounded surprised when the door started moving. With a weezey breath, you stepped around the door once there was enough room for you to do so and found yourself looking at the owner mysterious voice behind the door for the first time.

He was a skeleton. A short one. He was still taller than you by a few inches, but with a voice that deep you kind of expected a giant. He was dressed in a blue hoodie jacket and black shorts and as you looked up to his face you saw a grin plastered on that did not seem to fit the surprise in his wide eye sockets. There was a stretch of silence before the skeleton coughed. "So you're a human, right? That's hilarious." You were about to respond to him when you heard a slam behind you. You spun around with wide eyes to see the door had fallen shut.


	3. Chapter 3

You tugged on the edge of the door as hard as you could without it budging, but you were far too stubborn to give up. The skeleton stood a few feet away grinning silently, seeming to take amusement in your unyielding persistence against the ultimately fruitless endeavor. Eventually he interrupted your struggle.

"Y'know kid, your not gonna be able to open that." He said. You ignored him and kept pulling. You may have wanted to see the world outside of the ruins, but Toriel would be devastated if she returned home an you were gone. "It was designed as a one way exit. Now, maybe some of the real big monsters might be able to crack it open, but there is no way a kid like you is gonna get in from the outside."

You gave a few more tugs before banging your fists on the door as loudly as you could. You had to let Toriel know you did not mean to leave and that you needed to be let back in. Quickly you plunged your hands into your pockets to grab your cellphone only to find them empty. Your phone was on the kitchen counter. Where you left it while distracted by thoughts of pie. You started panicking at which point the skeleton tried to calm you down, "Hey kid, relax it's gonna be alright. I'm sure your mom will be back soon to let you inside." You glanced around warily through the forest. Although the skeleton was nice, Toriel said that there were a lot of mean monsters out here. "Hey kid don't worry about it, no friend of mine is gonna have there kid hurt on my watch. I'll keep an eye-socket on ya, okay?"

"SANS!" a loud voice yelled from some distance, "WHERE ARE YOU?! ARE YOU SLACKING OFF AGAIN?"

"Just after I deal with this," the skeleton said with a chuckle, "wait right here." he said and walked down the path at a brisk pace. You stood there for a moment alone as the cold set in and began to rub your arms. Your striped sweater was to thin for Snowdin, you had wished you dressed more warmly, but you were not actually planning on being here so you would not have thought to do that. The only distraction from the cold was the sudden interruption of a sharp, irritated scoff.

"Enjoying yourself?" You look over to find the source of the vaguely familiar voice to find a lone yellow flower popping out of the snow.

Flowey. You had almost forgotten about Satan's crabgrass after all this time. He was not wearing the cheerful smile he had when he first greeted you, or the malicious smirk from when he tried to kill you. Instead, he had a deep frown. He glared at you as though you had done onto him a great injustice despite not having so much as glanced at him in weeks.

"So much determination and you aren't even using it." He spat. "Just sitting around contented, getting comforted with all that love whenever you get so much as a scraped knee. Meanwhile I'm stuck in the same old timeline watching you play house and catch bugs because you took away my only source of amusement. What are you trying to accomplish here?" You glanced at him confused. "You could have the world at your fingertips, but you can't even bother to be interesting. If you hadn't had that old hag hovering over you I would have killed you weeks ago to force a reset. Well now mommy isn't here to protect you!" The flower lashed out a vine at you and you jumped back, only to have your foot caught on a root that suddenly popped out of the ground near flower. It tangled around your ankle holding you in place as Flowey readied a circle of bullet seeds with his face morphing into that creepy fanged smile of his. "DIE."

"KID! Are you alright?" The skeleton was running over and a look of fear took over Flowey's expression and he released you before disappearing into the ground. "Was anyone causing you trouble?" He said looking around, "I saw you fall." You looked up at him unable to do anything but shiver, partly from being rattled by Flowey and partly from the piercing cold soaking into your core, although the skeleton did not know about Flowey and handed you his hoodie. You put it on and quickly pulled up the hood so you could nuzzle your face into the soft lining. "Come on, kid. I'll take you back to my house and you can use my phone."

The Skeleton held out his hand to you to help you up, but when you took it the silence was broken by a loud farting noise and he broke out laughing heartily as the concern from a moment ago disappeared completely into his air of jovial humor. "Whoopie cushion in the hand, always funny." You looked up at him with a blank stare, "Ah, come on kid, where'd your sense of humor go? Heh." You stayed silent, you were not really in the mood for this right now after being locked out of your home, attacked by a demonic flower, and left out in the cold. He seemed to pick up on this. "Heh, okay, let's get you someplace warm." he said hoisting you up and you started down the snowy path together.

After a moment of walking down the path, listening to the snow crunch under your feet the skeleton coughed again to get your attention, "So your a human, right?" You nodded, a little confused since you thought you had already established that, "Is your mom also... ?" his voice trailed off. You shook your head 'no' and said you were 'kinda' adopted. "'Kinda'?" You explained how you fell into the ruins and Toriel helped you out and gave you a place to stay. You just fell into the roles of parent and should not really find it that surprising if he new Toriel, it was almost like she was created to be a mother. No one was more caring than her.

"So, what else can you tell me about her? I mean I know she is kind and has a great sense of humor, but...?"

"SANS!" the same voice from earlier shouted.

"That was fast." the short skeleton sighed, "where's a conveniently shaped lamp when you need one? Kid just stand behind me and he probably won't notice you." You did as he said, but were also trying to peek over his shoulder to see what was going on. A much taller skeleton wearing a red cape with matching gloves and boots was marching up to him in a huff. "'Sup, Papyrus? Did you see the human?"

"THAT WASN'T A HUMAN BY GREATER DOG'S STATION. IT WAS A SNOW POFF WITH A HAT ON. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE NO TIME FOR YOUR ANTICS! I MUST CAPTURE A REAL HUMAN, SO UNDYNE WILL LET ME INTO THE ROYAL GUARD, SO I CAN BE PAPYRUS, THE FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN!"

"Sorry, Papyrus. My bad." the shorter one chuckled while the taller one, whose name just might be Papyrus, gave an exasperated sigh.

"SANS, I'M SERIOUS."

"Hello serious, I'm Sans."

"SANS!"

"Hey, ' **snow** ' problem bro. Your already so ' **cool** '."

"IF ONLY OTHERS WOULD RECOGNIZE MY GREATNESS AS MUCH AS YOU DO. NO MATTER, I WILL GET BACK TO WORK AND I WILL FIND A HUMAN!" Papyrus shouted once more before running off with renewed vigor. You tapped on the shoulder of the skeleton in front of you, who could only be Sans, to get his attention.

"Hm? Oh, that was my brother. He's so cool." Sans chuckled, "And he always works so hard. He never gives up even when he doesn't get the results he wants. he's the best."

The two of you continued down the path. Sans occasionally slowed down an glanced at you over his shoulder, seeming to think about something. "Y'know," Sans finally decided to break the silence, "he's been trying to find a human for a long time. It would probably mean a lot to him if he got to see one. You think you could do me a favor and play along with him for awhile?" You looked up at Sans with your brows knitted up in worried confusion, " Ah, don't worry. He won't hurt you; Papyrus is way to big of a softie to hurt anyone." You nodded slowly. This probably would not be too bad. It might even be a little fun. "Great. Just give me back the jacket for a second, and I'll go get Papyrus." He said taking his jacket in his hand and walking ahead of you.

You followed some distance behind, glancing around for any other monsters as you walked. Then you saw the two of them. Papyrus looked so excited when he saw you, then he got distracted by a rock, then Sans pointed you out again. Papyrus was so overwhelmed with excitement that his words jumbled together until he was just repeating how popular he was going to be. When Papyrus finally calmed himself he declared that he would capture you and then immediately ran off.

"That went well." Sans said with a wink, "Let's go kid." You proceeded to an invisible electricity maze that you solved by following Papyrus's foot prints left behind when he had to go through it to hand you the zappy orb. He was very impressed, not seeming to realize that he handed you the answer. "Man, thanks for going along with this kid." Sans said with his grin looking even wider than usual, "My bro looks like he is having a great time. Now, come on. I'll take you to the next puzzle, I know a shortcut. We can skip past the sentry stations."

After a word search, a plate of spaghetti and a few other puzzles later you find yourself standing infront a tiled puzzle. Based on Papyrus's explanation it sounded very complicated and painful, only for when it was turned on the solution was a simple B-line to the other side. You walked over to Sans and stared at him. "You need something kid?" You held out needy hands that shook violently in the cold, "Ah, right. Here you go." He said, slipping off his hoodie and handing it to you, "I wanted my bro to think he found you first, which wouldn't have worked if you already had my coat."

As much fun as you were having with hanging around with the two Skeletons, you began to realized that you had been here quite some time. Toriel was probably panicking right now. You tugged on Sans sleeve and reminded him that you said he would take you back to his house. "Ah, right. Better take a short cut."

Next thing you knew you where on the outskirts of Snowdin. You could here grumbling behind you and you looked over your shoulder to see Papyrus standing in front of a bridge while fiddling with a remote. "I HOPE FIRE IS NOT TOO DEADLY," he was grumbling to himself, "I WANT IT TO BE DEADLY IN A WAY THAT THEY WILL NOT GET HURT." he sounded conflicted.

"Sup, bro!" Sans called out to Papyrus will shaking a little. He seemed to be trying to hold back a laugh.

"MY BROTHER, DO YOU HOW TO MAKE THIS PUZZLE SO IT WON'T HURT THE HU-" Papyrus turned around to face Sans as he spoke and froze up, "HUMAN!" you fixed him with a curious stare, "DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM STILL AN INTIMIDATING FOE, I WILL HAVE VICTORY ON YOU YET HUMAN AS I- I- UM... WHY ARE YOU WEARING SANS'S JACKET?"

"The kid was cold, I guess you could say chilled to the **bone**."

"SANS!" Papyrus groaned

"Anyway, I was gonna take the kid back to the house to warm up and call their family."

"THAT..." Papyrus paused, "IS A GREAT IDEA. I CAN MAKE THEM SOME OF MY HOME MADE PASTA!" He directed his attention back to you, "HUMAN, AS MY NEW PLAN TO CAPTURE YOU, I WILL INVITE YOU INTO MY HOME AND TAKE SUCH GREAT CARE OF YOU THAT YOU WILL NEVER WANT TO LEAVE. THIS PLAN IS BRILLIANT." He ran forward, taking your hand, and started sprinting through town. You barely had a chance to take a look at the other monsters, he was going so fast.

Once inside he plopped you down on the couch and wrapped a blanket around you.

"NOW HUMAN, I WILL MAKE YOU SOME AMAZING SPAGHETTI, AND YOU MAY WATCH MAY FAVORITE GAME SHOW ON MTT!" he shouted as he turned on the television to some show being hosted by a boxy, flamboyant robot, "NYEH HEH HEH, JUST WAIT HUMAN. SOON YOUR TASTEBUDS WILL BE IN PARADISE!" and he slipped of to the kitchen.

The front door open and shut and Sans walked in with a paper bag and a bottle of ketchup. He settled down on the sofa next to you and handed you the bag. It smelled like french fries.

"Hey sorry I'm late, since Pap's said he was making you some spaghetti, I thought I'd stop by Grillby's to get you something else to eat. Don't let him see it though." Sans said with a wink.

"AH, SANS! DO YOU WANT SOME SPAGHETTI?" Papyrus called from the kitchen.

"Nah, I just picked up something at Grillby's"

"UGH, I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU CAN STAND ALL THAT GREECE. YOU HAVE NO STANDARDS." Papyrus walked out of the kitchen with a steaming plate of pasta and was wearing a chef hat that looked like it had 'COOL DUDE' added to the band with a sharpie. He presented the plate and a fork to you dramatically, "WORRY NOT HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE THE HIGHEST OF STANDARDS AND WOULD ONLY SERVE YOU THE FINEST OF SPAGHETTI."

You took the plate in your lap and fork in hand, looking down at the mess of a meal. The noodles were still pretty stiff and half of them were black, as if he turned up the heat so high all of the water boiled away and started burning before they were fully cooked. The sauce, if you could call it that, looked like he smashed a tomato with a hammer and it was not blended very well with any of the other vegetables or spices, copious amounts of which were thrown on haphazardly. You looked down at and grimaced. Were you actually expected to eat this? Sans said that Papyrus had taken cooking lessons, just what exactly did they teach him.

You looked at the plate then to Papyrus. His eye sockets wide with giddy expectation. They almost seemed to sparkle and shine with his enthusiasm. You had no idea how that was possible. You tore your gaze away from the amiable skeleton giving you hospitality back to the plate. You never had choked something down so fast in your life. You stuffed the spaghetti in your mouth in huge forkfuls, trying to get the plate clean while tasting as little of the burnt, over-spiced noodles as possible. Papyrus took your speed as the ultimate complement.

"WOWIE! I'VE NEVER SEEN SOMEONE EAT MY SPAGHETTI SO EAGERLY BEFORE! YOU MUST REALLY LOVE MY COOKING." Papyrus cheered with his eye sockets sparkling once more. "AND BY EXTENSION... ME!" Papyrus's giddiness did not last long as he seemed troubled by something. His smile faded a little and he took your plate from your hands. "WELL, I'LL JUST GET THIS OUT OF YOUR WAY." and he ran off to the kitchen.

You slumped down in the sofa. Your stomach was doing flips as the Papyrus's cooking did its damage to your intestinal track. You are filled with regret.

"Man, kiddo. I didn't think you'd go and eat the entire plate." Sans laughed, "You're awfully brave, aren't you?" You mentioned how you missed your mom's cooking. "Oh, right. We still need to call her." He sat up and went to the kitchen. You vaguely heard the two skeletons talking, but you were not paying to close attention.

...

"Hey Paps, the kid needs to borrow your phone." Sans said as he walked into the kitchen. Papyrus was standing on a step latter so he could wash the cooking dished in the excessively tall sink counter.

"WHAT? WHY DIDN'T YOU LET THEM USE YOURS?" Papyrus asked as he set the dishes down and dried off his hands.

"I would have let them use it if I could remember where I left it."

"YOU HAVE BEEN GOING AROUND ALL DAY WITHOUT YOUR PHONE? WHAT IF SOMEONE NEEDED TO CONTACT YOU?"

"Eh, it's not a big deal. Besides, no one really calls me anyway. They know not to ask me to do anything, because I'd be too lazy to get it done." Sans drawled casually.

"UGH. LAZYBONES." Papyrus grumbled as he pulled out his phone and dialed Sans's number. A faint ringing could be heard accompanied by rumbling vibrations emanating from the fridge. Sans turned around and opened the fridge door and the ringing got louder and clearer. He reached for a not-so-empty bag of popato chisps and found his phone ringing inside.

"Ah, so that's where I left it."

"SANS! DO YOU TAKE CARE OF ANY OF YOUR THINGS?"

"What are you talking about, its fine. No need to get all **chipped** about it!"

"SANS! THAT ONE DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!" Sans just chuckled as he turned to leave the kitchen, but Papyrus's voice stopped him once again. "SANS," he started with a softer, slightly saddened tone, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M GOING TO DO ABOUT CAPTURING THE HUMAN."

"I thought you already captured them, by inviting them into the house."

"BUT, IF I CALL UNDYNE AND SHE BRINGS THEM TO ASGORE, THEY PROBABLY WON'T LET THEM GO. WHAT IF WE NEVER GET TO HANG OUT AGAIN?"

Sans paused, seeing how attached is brother had become in the short amount of time he knew the human and sighed.

"Papyrus, whatever you do, I'm sure you will make the right decision." Sans said. Although knowing his brother as well as he did, Sans could place bets that Papyrus would spare the kid, even if it meant he would not be able to complete his dream of joining the royal guard. Papyrus was just too nice in that way.

...

Sans returned to the living room ready for you to call Toriel, not that you were really aware of this as you had fallen asleep on the couch at this point. Sans settled into the sofa next to you and sighed while deep in thought. He had the feeling that things would be getting pretty complicated over the next few days.


	4. Chapter 4

**For those of you enjoying this story I have bad news; my computer is having problems and I needed to borrow someone else's just to post this. I don't know what is wrong, but it can't seem to find its operating system. Anyway, updates are going to come slowly until it gets fixed or replaced. Sorry to disappoint. :(**

 **-Melanie**

You felt something nudge you. You grumbled and buried your face in your arms, not wanting to be bothered. You did not want to move. You felt sick. The last thing you remembered was eating Papyrus's cooking and getting a stomach ache so bad you passed out. You figured all the suffering you went through for the sake of his happiness should earn you at least five more minutes of rest, but whatever nudged you just kept poking.

"C'mon kid. I don't know your mom's number and she's probably worried sick for you." Sans's voice rang in your ears. She was not the only one that was sick. You crawled over to Sans sluggishly and took the phone from his hand. For some reason it was slightly greasy and looked like it had snack crumbs stuck to it. You typed in Toriel's number and handed the phone back to Sans so you could take a face plant in the sofa and curl around your ailing stomach. Sans chuckled a little and you growled at him. "Hey I didn't tell you to eat it, much less wolf down the whole thing. I can usually get a way with one or two bites."

He hit the call button and the phone started ringing. When Toriel's voice came up on the phone she sounded panicked. You could here what she was saying clearly and she was not even on speaker phone.

"Hey, it's me. I got your kid here." Sans said and started receiving a barrage of loud questions from the other end. If he had ears they would be ringing. "Nah, they're okay. I popped over to see if you were around. They tried to let me in for tea and pie and accidentally locked themselves out. We woulda called sooner, but we got a little side tracked with my brother." more questions flowed through the receiver and Sans tried his best to answer them. "They are fine... We're at my house... On the Eastern end of Snowdin... Yes they're are perfectly unharmed," You groaned loudly. "May have a slight stomach ache... Papyrus's cooking."

Sans handed you the phone, "She wants to talk to you." he said.

"My child, are you alright?" She asked, even though she had asked Sans multiple times already. "Why didn't you have your phone with you?" You tried to convince her that you were okay and that you didn't leave intentionally. You told her about the skeleton brothers and how the took good care of you, (or tried to, in Papyrus's case).

Sometime during this conversation Sans had got up and left and when he returned he was holding a pink bottle labeled 'bismuth subsalicylate stomach relief' you had no idea why someone without a stomach would have that. Maybe this happened with guests before? He poured you a cap full and handed it to you for you to drink while Toriel went on.

"I'll be over right away, but before I go would you hand back over to, Sans was it?" You handed the cell back to Sans as you sipped down the medicine.

"Hello," he answered and you thought you could hear a very heartfelt 'thank you' from Toriel's end, " No problem, so when are you gonna be over to pick the kid up? M'kay, see you then." He ended the call with a big grin on his face, not that that was unusual for him, but you guess talking to Toriel made him happy. He then turned his attention toward you. "So, looks like your mom will be over soon. Anything you want to do in the meantime?

...

You piled on the snow as Sans watched you from the front of the house. You were trying to get as much fun in Snowdin as you could before you had to go home. So far you managed to make snow angels and have a snowball fight with Papyrus. He had burst through the front door while you were making an angel right by his house and declared that if you could best him in a snowball fight he would let you go free and either he had the worst aim you had ever seen or he was let you win. By the end of the battle he had not hit you once and he was so wet that he had to go back inside to dry off. Yeah, you are pretty sure he let you win. Now you were trying to squeeze in making a snowman, but it looked like you would not have time for that. Just as you piled up enough to start shaping the torso, Toriel showed up.

She came up to you with one of your thickest sweaters and a pair of mittens. You ran over for a hug and she enveloped you in warm arms.

"Oh my child, you had me so worried." She sighed in relief, eventually she had to let you go so she could hand you your sweater and you realized it would be time to give Sans back his hoodie. You hoped he would not mind that it got a little damp from the snow angles as you slipped it off your shoulders and pulled on the sweater and mittens. You ran over to Sans and handed him the jacket, drawing Toriel's attention to him as well and she walked over.

"Hello, you must be Sans." Toriel greeted him warmly, "Thank you, so much for helping us."

"Again, it's **snow** problem." Sans said and the two of them shared a chuckle. You could hear Papyrus groaning from inside the house. "I didn't get your name though."

"My name is Toriel. It is very nice to meet you in person."

"Same to you."

"I'm so sorry to have caused you any trouble," Toriel said as she took your hand and readied to leave, "I would love to stay and talk longer, but we must return to the ruins. I am the only one to look after the place after all." She turned away with a friendly wave goodbye, "I hope we may talk again soon."

...

Toriel held your hand the entire way back to the ruins, glaring down any of the sentries or guards who looked like they wanted to stop you. You were beginning to think she was being over protective again the ones you passed just looked like fluffy white dogs that wanted to be pet. Then you came across one smoking dog biscuits and throwing swords at anything that moved. When he pointed his blade at you Toriel knocked his lights out. For a person who always insisted on talking out conflicts, she could be pretty aggressive when someone she cared about was on the line.

As you approached the end of the forest you began to wonder how she would get the door open if it was supposed to be a one-way exit. Sans did say some of the bigger monsters might be able to pry it open. Was Toriel big enough? She had to be aware of it having lived in the ruins so long, so she must be confident that she could open it. You decided Toriel could do it, however all of these considerations proved moot as the door was not in the same condition as when you had left.

Thorny green roots and vines tangled around the doorway in thick blanket of foliage. The sealed shut the gaps around the door and dug into the surrounding stone, forcing open huge cracks and threatening the stability of the archway.

"Oh my," Toriel gasped, "How could so much growth have sprouted in so little time?"

You were placing bets on a malicious flower, but you were also a bit confused. You did not know Flowey was capable of this much. At any rate, the two of you were not getting through the door with the vines there and Toriel was not sure she could remove them without the stone collapsing. You wondered out loud what you were going to do.

"It does not look like we will be able to leave through here today." Toriel said worriedly, "It's getting late though. We should head back to Snowdin and get a room at the Inn." and turned around to go back. The entire trip back you were glancing over your shoulder and in between trees to get a glimpse of Flowey. You did not know what he was planning so it was best to be on-guard. "My child, is something bothering you?" You tell Toriel you think that an evil flower put the vines on the door and that you were checking to see if it was following you. "Don't worry child, I will not let anyone harm you." You did not doubt that, but Flowey was persistent, an you only needed to be caught of guard once for something bad to happen.

You arrived back in Snowdin and headed straight for the Inn. As Toriel booked your room you had your face pressed up against the window looking for any sign of Flowey, or on a more pleasant note, Sans and Papyrus. Papyrus would probably be giddy that you were still in town and Sans would love to crack more jokes with Toriel, but at the moment neither of them seemed to be nearby. The only ones out were some kids playing 'monsters and humans' and a couple of bears arranging gifts around what looked to be a Christmas tree.

One of the monster children was a yellow boy(?, you think he's a boy based on his voice, but it was kind of hard to tell) in stripes. As they passed near the Inn he tripped and landed on his face, having no arms to break his fall. He squirmed his way back onto his feet and shook off the snow. He went to see if any snow was still stuck to him in the reflection of the window and ended up staring right at you, with a surprised look on his face. It did not last long as his attention was called away by the other kids, and your attention was redirected to Toriel who had the key to your room.

It was kind of noisy at the Inn. The people in the room next to yours snored really loudly, but eventually you were able to get to sleep. In the morning you went down to the neighboring store and got some cinnamon buns for breakfast. After you munched on one you worked on building a snowman while Toriel watched as she contemplated what to do next since the ruins were still inaccessible. You piled on the snow and decided to make it a skeleton, although with your sloppy workmanship it was difficult to identify it as such.

"Yo!" you were approached by the monster kid, "I saw you hanging around at the Inn yesterday. You're a kid like me, right? I know you are 'cause you're wearing stripes." You did not comment on the fault in his logic, "That's so cool! There haven't been any new kids in town in a long time. You wanna play Monsters and Humans with us?" You wondered if this was a jab at the fact you were a human. You shook your head slowely. "Aw, come on. I'll even convince the other kids to let you be the human. See that Jellyblob over there?" He gestured with his had at what looked to be a young moldsmal,"It's his turn to be Undyne and he isn't very fast, so avoiding him will be no problem!"

Undyne, you thought you heard that name before. You think Papyrus might have mentioned them in passing. She had something to do with the royal guard that Papyrus was trying so hard to be a part of.

"Don't tell him I said this," the monster kid leaned close so he could whisper, "but he is really bad at being Undyne. She is so cool and fast, she would never let a human escape her so easily. She would beat them up so bad" He laughed for a second, "Man, Undyne is so cool! I wanna beat up humans just like her!" you ask him if he had ever seen a human, "Nah. I hear the last one that passed through here was before I can remember, but I think they are really mean looking." You concluded he had no idea who he was talking to. "So, how 'bout it? You wanna play?" You supposed it would not hurt, since none of them seemed to know you were a human. You glanced over to Toriel, who was watching you closely, but did not seem to discourage you from interacting with them then turned back to monster kid and agreed.

The game Monsters and Humans was a lot like freeze tag. The humans tagged monsters and they would have to stop moving until the one playing Undyne liberated them and if a human was tagged by Undyne then they were out. When all the humans were gone the game would be over. With no way to get Undyne tagged out the game seemed to be set up to invariably end in the monster's favor, it was just a question of how long you could keep it going.

Some how after a few play-throughs you managed to get chosen to be the current Undyne. The Irony was not lost on you. All of you were running around throughout Snowdin, the game's borders stretched anywhere between the edge of the Inn to the Library. Running back and forth from the two was really starting to were you out. You just wanted to collapse as you jogged past Grillby's to catch the 'human'.

You saw the door to Grillby's kicked open and Papyrus leaving with an irritated expression on his face and Sans slung over his shoulder. You went over to Papyrus eagerly and greeted him, much to the chagrin of the monster kid who had been waiting for you to liberate them.

"HUMAN! HOW NICE TO SEE YOU. SANS TOLD ME YOU HAD LEFT FOR THE RUINS YESTERDAY, DID YOU COME BACK TO VISIT US?" Papyrus talked excitedly. Sans, having heard Papyrus address you, lifted his head to get a look. He seemed a tad surprised.

"Your mom here with you, kid?" Sans asked and you nodded, "huh, She seemed really adamant about staying in the ruins. What changed?" You explained that you were never able to return home last night because the door was blocked. You were stuck here.

"OH," Papyrus said sounding a bit disappointed, but he quickly recovered and struck a dramatic pose (dropping Sans in the process) "WORRY NOT DEAR HUMAN, I WILL MAKE YOUR STAY IN SNOWDIN AS FANTASTIC AS POSSIBLE SO YOU WILL FORGET ALL ABOUT RETURNING TO THE RUINS!"

"They're not a human, they're Undyne, and they let all the humans trap the monsters." The monster kid whined. You turned around to see all the other kids just standing there as all of the monster team was 'trapped' and the human team did not have anyone left to tag or anyone to run away from since you had not been chasing them. Oops. "Does this mean the game is over?"

"Wow, I've never won on the human team before." a bundled up mouse said.

"Next time you play as Undyne you need to remember that she never gives up." The jellyblob added, "Does this mean I get to be Undyne again?"

"Yo! If you're gonna play again you should be on the human team," the monster kid said. You declined, you were getting tired and you wanted to spend time with Sans and Papyrus.

"So, uh, Toriel nearby." Sans asked after the other kids ran off to start a new game. You nodded and pointed to her standing near the Inn, her eyes still on you. Papyrus looked as well and his eye sockets widened.

"IS THAT THE KING? DID HE SHAVE?" Papyrus asked.

"That's not the King. She is Toriel, the kids mom."

"HOW CAN SHE BE THEIR MOM IF SHE IS A MONSTER AND THEY ARE-" Papyrus was interupted by Sans nudging him. It seemed as though not everyone was aware that you were human and Sans thought it best to keep it that way, which would be difficult if Papyrus kept yelling that you were human every time he addressed you.

"Hang on, I want to talk to her for a sec." Sans said and strolled over Papyrus followed out of curiosity.

"Good morning Sans," Toriel said noticing the two of them, "Is this your brother, Papyrus?"

"YOU KNOW ME?"

"Why yes, Sans has told me so much about you. He always talks about how incredibly cool his brother is." Torial answered. Sans looked a little embarrassed.

"NYEH HEH HEH, WHY OF COURSE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM THE BEST BROTHER A SKELETON COULD HAVE!" Papyrus boasted as he thumped his fist to his chest is a show of pride.

"Papyrus, do you know what a skeleton orders at a restaurant?" Toriel asked, barely repressing a snort.

"SPAGHETTI? OR IN MY BROTHER'S CASE BURGERS." Papyrus pondered.

"No silly, **spare ribs**." Toriel laughed.

"GNAAAAH! MY DAY IS RUINED!"

"Man Tori, you always crack me up." Sans chuckled, "I think I broke my funny bone."

"I always **pa-tell-a** you to get more calcium."

"Maybe you should try being more **stern-um."**

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! SANS MUST YOU INFECT EVERYONE WITH YOUR TERRIBLE JOKES?!" Papyrus yelled.

"I'm just trying to bring the world a skele-ton of joy" Sans said with a wink and with that Papyrus stormed off saying once more his day was ruined. Sans turned back to Toriel, looking slightly more serious for a moment. "Hey, do you mind if I take the kid for a while?" Sans asked.

"Of course not, especially after you had taken such good care of them." Toriel replied softly. You walked with Sans until you were just out of sight and he gestured you to come closer.

"Come on, kid I got a short cut." He said. You followed close and found yourself outside his sentry station in the forest. He stepped behind it for a second and grabbed a few bottles of ketchup and mustard. He stuffed a few in his pockets and began slurping down another. Is this what he brought you out here for? "Okay lets go." He said after downing an entire bottle.

The two of you headed deeper into the forest until you reached the door. "When you said path was blocked this wasn't what I was expecting. I was thinking some trees fell over, but not this. I've never seen anything grow so fast in my life. Did you see anything strange going on?"

You told him you were yelled at by an ornery flower when he left you here to deal with his brother yesterday.

"Yelling flower? Hm. The marsh is full of echo flowers, but none have been seen this far out in Snowdin before." You look a little confused. "Do you know what an echo flower is?" You shake your head "They are all over the marsh in Waterfall," He explained, "They will repeat anything said to them. My brother has been having unusual encounters with them as well, but he said they were giving him words of encouragement. Something strange is going on here." indeed it was, and no doubt would lead to trouble in the future. You only hoped you could handle what was in store for you.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: sorry to have such a short chapter after such a long wait, but I promise next one will come in less than 3 weeks.**

Flowey grimaced at you. As long as you were with the smiling trash bag, going after you would be a bad idea. He was a lot tougher than he looked, and with Flowey's power to reset being overridden by you, it truly would be the end if he got into a fight with Sans. Flowey would need to use someone else to get to you. Papyrus was the most easy to manipulate, but with him already being so buddy, buddy with you he would not fight you.

Maybe Flowey could convince Papyrus to take you on a field trip, somewhere far away from Toriel or Sans. Then he could force you to reset. But for now, Flowey had to bide his time and wait. Trying to keep you from fleeing to any safe spots like the ruins.

Flowey hated waiting. It was so boring and dull, and then it became aggravating. Messing with the timelines was his only distraction from the fact that he was trapped in a tiny plant body with no limbs, no family, and unable to be comforted or feel affection in anyway. At first he was excited by your arrival. You were something new, as the old distractions got more repetitive you were a welcome change. He was not even mad when he realized you had over ridden his reset function. He was curious as to what you would do with it. He did not think that you would do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Now he was stuck stewing in his own rage, loneliness, and frustration as he watched you live the most idyllic life one could manage while being a human trapped in the underground. Running around and playing games on your still existing legs. Basking in the hugs and kisses and affection you could still feel from his mothe- Tori- THE OLD HAG.

Humans were not supposed to have good lives underground. They were not supposed to have any lives underground. They were supposed to be killed and brought to Asgore to break the barrier. But instead you managed to befriend everyone. Papyrus had not even reported you to Undyne before you befriended him!

...Undyne. Undyne would be much less forgiving of a human's presence, even if it was one that had not hurt anyone. Flowey grinned mischievously to himself as he watched You and Sans walked back to Snowdin. One way or another, things were going to get interesting. He would make sure of that.

...

You trudged through the snow with Sans back through already solved puzzles that Papyrus was going to no doubt berate Sans for not restarting them. Sans did not take a short cut straight to Snowdin so he could stop by where his brother was, below the icy X's and O's puzzle where he was touching up the details on muscular snow Papyrus with huge biceps far bigger than what actually is possible for a skeleton. Beside him the lump of snow that Sans had somehow manage to write on with marker. The two snow sculptures next to each other where pretty much the perfect summary of their personalities.

"'Sup, bro?" Sans waved to Papyrus.

"SANS! HUMAN!" Papyrus yelled as it was his default voice, "I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE SHARING TERRIBLE JOKES WITH THE KING'S CLONE ALL DAY."

"no, but I goat to admit it is a tempting thought."

"SANS!"

"Anyway, I came to ask you about the friendly flowers you were talking about earlier. Have you ever seen them outside of waterfall?"

"YES, ALL THE TIME! IN FACT THEY ARE USUALLY NEAR OUR HOUSE."

"Hmm." Sans pondered to himself. You stood by as the silent spectator. You had the feeling Flowey had something to do with what was going on here, but you could not understand why he would be so nice to Papyrus when he just wanted you to die. Maybe it was a monster thing? Maybe Flowey doesn't hate everyone and just you because your Human. He heard the stories of how humans trapped everyone underground and now wants you to suffer for it.

Unfortunately, finding out Flowey's motives would probably require you encountering him again, which was not something you were keen on doing as he kept trying to kill you.

...

"Did you hear? There is a human in the Undergound" Flowey whispered into one echo flower, "They have been seen around Snowdin wearing a striped sweater." Then Flowey popped over to another flower and tried a different voice, "The seventh soul! Finally we can leave the Underground! I can't wait to see real stars!"

Undyne was one of those people could not approach directly; she was much less trusting and more perceptive than Papyrus and would spear him if she thought he might hurt any of her friends. Instead Flowey found the patch of echo flowers closest to her house and started whispering news of your arrival while pretending to be multiple different monsters praying for your death. Even if she did not hear it directly from the flowers the rumor was sure to spread all across waterfall with excitement.

Flowey burrowed underground just as someone approached, tripping and falling flat on their face. They had to struggle to pull their face out of the mud sit up without the assistance of any arms. They shook the mud off and stood up to find themselves facing the echo flower that then repeated Flowey's message. The monster kid then lit up with excitement and could not keep from yelling out.

"A human in the Underground?! Oh, boy, maybe if I tell Undyne she'll let me watch when she beats them up!" He said running off to continue his search for her, but not without face planting a few more times. Flowey grinned, things were picking up faster than he thought.

Undyne, meanwhile, was spearing her practice dummy with much aggression. She had to keep in shape after all. With the assistance of the ghost that inhabited the dummy she was practicing hitting a moving target as it wobbled back and forth. Why a ghost would want to inhabit a form that they knew would have the stuffing beat out of it on a regular basis, she did not know, but she was fully willing to use it to her advantage.

"Yo! Undyne!" Undyne looked over to see the monster kid running over to her in excitement, tripping, getting up again, and staring at her in awe, "Oh, my god! I can't beleive I'm really in front of Undyne right now, this is the best day of my life!" They jumped up and down, completely start struck. Undyne had seen this kid before when checking in on Papyrus, she looked over at them and they fainted with a wide smile on their face. It wasn't unusual for kids to look up to her. On more than one occasion she had them asking to train with her so they could be a royal guardsmen when they grew up. She was not looking forward to having to tell yet another one that they were still too young or that they would need the okay from their parents/

"Hello, kid," Undyne started, trying to put on a calmer facade than her normal personality as to not overwhelm the child, "If your here about royal guard training, I'm afraid we don't take students your age," the kid slumped a little.

"I know," they said sounding a little saddened, "my parents don't want me to be in the royal guard anyway. They think I'll get hurt because I can't hold a shield," but then the kid suddenly straightened up with renewed vigor, "But that's not why I'm here! I wanna see you fight! And I heard there is a human wandering around near Snowdin."

"WHAT?"

...

Back with you Sans and Papyrus, your conversation about talking flowers was interrupted by a ringing sound and Papyrus picked up his cell phone,

"HELLO, THIS IS THE GREAT PAPYRUS SPE- OH HELLO UNDYNE, WHAT ARE YOU CALL- OH, UM...NO..." Papyrus seemed to grow hesitant about the conversation. The voice on the other side seemed to sound impatient with his hesitation. "I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY DANGEROUS HUMANS." he said. This worried you. "YES, I'M SURE. I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY DANGEROUS HUMANS..." Papyrus seemed bothered as the voice on the other end continued with questions as it notice the specifice way he was phrasing his words "NOT ANYONE DANGEROUS... WELL... UM... THERE MIGHT BE...ONE." Papyrus said glancing down at you for a second. "BUT YOU DON'T WORRY ABOUT THEM- YOUR WHAT? BUT UNDYNE." He stopped there and pulled the phone away from the side of his head and looked at it with an uneasy grimace, the call having ended. He turned to you and Sans. "WELL, IT SEEMS LIKE UNDYNE IS COMING OVER."


End file.
